Beet harvester



J. A. DIETH ELM May 6, 1952 BEET HARVESTER 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Dec. 25, 1948 y 6, 1957 J. A. DIETHELM 2,595,340

BEET HARVESTER Filed Dec. 23, 1948 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 .FZZ'E' Jomv A. Blew/444 QWJ-f y 1952 J. A. DIETHELM 2,595,340

BEET HARVESTER Filed Dec. 23, 1948 '5 Sheets-Sheet 4 FIE 5 Jb/mg A Dear/m4 Patented May 6, 1952 UNITED I PAT-E NT FFI CE LBEET HARVESTER John}A.1Diethelm',B Victoria; Minn. Application December 23;1'948; Seri'alNo. 66,894

1 3Claims. 1

My invention relates. to improvements in ;ma-

. chines for harvestingsugar beets.

The invention further ,relatesato .certainimprovements in the type of machine shown in land this. application is. a continuation-impart: from,

my prior co-pending application for-BeetHarvestingLMeans and.Method;;Serial No. 534,415 filed .May v6,. 1944, now abandoned. :Suchwmachine embodies .a wheel. supported framewvith .ayipair of rotating forwardly pointed lifting cones town at opposite sides ofthe beet row. and lift thebeets from the ground,: aconveyor: to .carry-v .thej lifted beets rearwardly, and certain: forwardly located elements forvopening furrows. alongsideothe'r row toacccmmodate the following liftingicones. 1'- The primary object of my:presentinventionistcrprovide improved means for engaging the beets: as

they are poppednp by. the cones and-:i tipping the beets rearwardly .over onto :the conveyor xto ensure their position delivery and for: removing any parts of the tops thatmay remainsafter the beets have been topped, and finally for: slapping off and removing: any clinging. particles ofzdirt from the beets.

Another object is to provide a machine. ofi this general type with units for harvestingmwo or more, rows of beets ata time and with means between the units for preventing the..accumulav 'tion of trash and dirt: ahead-of the machine, which heretofore has been a-factor in making-the use of multi-row harvesters unsatisfactory.

Another object is-to provide a machine of this character with adjustments for-different. :row

spacings and all "othernecessary refinements. to

- along the line 3-3 in Fig. 2.

Fig. '4 is an enlarged frontal; elevatiomof"; the

' machine.

Fig. 5 is a similar.- view'ofl thexrear endrofithe machine, and delivery .conveyorsbeing, however, in -this case-omitted.

,sFig; 6 :is an enlarged vertical cross section :through the machine, along the line 6-6 in Fig. 1.

7 an enlarged side elevation and section 1 of the-digging and lifting elements of the machine and: associated :par-tasubstantially along the line "Fig.8 is; a plan and sectional view illustrating a-ymodification of the lifting cone mounting and drivin assembly.

.;Referring now more particularly and by referaenceicharacters tothe; drawing, the machine of myr-present invention comprises a main frame designatedjgenerally.at A-and-is here shown as constructed 5 asa pull-behind implement, with. a

ported by large pneumatic tired ground wheels C.

The' main frame A comprises as its primary ele- :mentstwo transverselyqspaced parallel pairs of aframe angles indicatedat I 4], I I, I2 and I3. At

theirforward ends theframe angles I 0 and I I are welded. to,;the-'upright sides l 4 of a 'U -shaped front -.=fr a,mej member I5 and in the same fashion the zilframeangles I2.;and"I'3 arewelded to the sides :II5;of'- a similar forward frame member I1. The

-. ed against; their forward sidesare upper and lower :cross members l 8. and I 9 formed of oppositely positioned angle irons rigidly connectedin vertically :spacedrelation by upright tie bars 20. A

.iepairmf bolts 2| fastens ea-ch of the cross members 1.8 and I 9 to the respective frame members I5 'members' l5 and- IT. The purpose hereis to per- :mit-Jtherespective-pairs of frame angles In-II :spectxtoreach other-so that theharvesting-units and l2-I3 to be adjusted transversely with rewhichare mounted between these pairs of angles @mayrbeadjusted-to operate upon crops-of differ- ",entr'ow spacings. -Sugar beet rows: are convenati'onallyplanted in rows, the spacingof which varies in increments of twoinches and in accord- :ance :rwith my invention, the openings 22. are

:ispaced apart this distance. The. openings 23, on the; othernhand, "whilebeing spaced apart two inches also-are staggered or offset. one inchawith reference towthe openings- 22so that the frame tangles Ill-x-l I and I2-l3 may be adjusted in one incn increment-s. Obviously, such adjustment is necessary in order to permit the harvesting units themselveswto be: moved1together and apart in .1 stepsxof .two'inches overal1. 'I-'he rear ends of the respective frame angles Ill-ll and !2l3 ar in a similar fashion welded to the upright sides 24 and 25 of rear frame members 26 and 21, respectively, and traversing the rear lower portion of these rear frame members is a rear cross bar 28 secured in place by bolts 29. Series of openings are provided at this rear end for the accommodation of the bolts 29 exactly as described above so as to permit adjustments at the rear end to correspond to those at the forward end of the machine. The sides 24 and 25 of these rear frame,

members 26 and 21 extend upwardly to a considerable height and are jointed at their upper ends by transversely and horizontally extending webs 3B and 3|, respectively, across which is mounted an upper rear frame bar 32. At this point also a series of bolts 33 and properly spaced openings are provided to permitadjustments of one inch increments between the rear frame members and the upper cross bar 32. The rear ground wheels C are journaled by axles 34 in bearings 35 carried by the lower rear cross member 28 as shown in Figs. 4 and 5. Referring now again to the forward end of the machine the tractor hitch B is secured to the end of the tubular tongue 36 welded to and extending forwardly from the center of the lower cross member 49 and rigidly braced against horizontal or vertical displacement by braces, indicated throughout at 31. To support the forward end of the machine when disconnected from the tractor I provide a stand 38 pivoted at 39 to the forward end of the tongue 36, and which may be swung downwardly from its normal position shown in Fig. 1 to contact the ground whenever required.

Positioned in the longitudinal spaces between the respective frame angles |ll and I2I3 is a pair of harvesting units or assemblies for harvesting beets from adjacent crop rows and since these assemblies are identical in construction and operation only one will here be described in detail, and the correspondin parts of each will be designated by correspondin reference numerals. Each said harvesting unit comprises a sub-frame made up of two spaced side bars 40 and 4| positioned loosely between the adjacent frame angles and at their forward ends bent inwardly in converging relation and joined together in the form of a centrallylocated guide finger 42. The said finger 42 moves loosely up and down through a vertical guideway 43 secured to the rear side of the adjacent forward frame member or H, as the case may be, and this guideway permits upward and downward swinging movements of the sub-frames, while preventing horizontal displacement thereof. The side bars 404| are supported for such swinging movements by brackets 44 on their rear ends, which are pivotally attached at 45 to a countershaft 45 rotatably mounted in bearings in the sides of the respective rear frame members 26-21. This construction is best shown in Fig. 5 and it will be apparent that the arrangement permits the sub-frames made up of th side bars 40'4|, and all connected parts, to be raised and lowered with respect to the main frame and the ground. For thus raising and lowering these assemblies there is provided a transversely extending tubular rock shaft 41 journaled through the sides l4l6 of the forward frame members and at its center having an upwardly extending arm 48 to which is pivoted the upper rear end of a plunger 49 of a hydraulic lift unit 50. Said lift unit is pivotally attached at its lower forward end at 5! to the tongue 36 and the arrangement is such that the selective admission of fluid to the bars 40 and 4|.

lift will cause it to oscillate the rock shaft 41 as will be understood. Over each of the sub-frame units, and located centrally with respect to the side bars 40-4l thereof, the rock shaft 41 is provided with a rearwardly extending arm 52 which may be connected by a bolt 53 through any one of a series of openings 54 to a lift bar 55. The said lift bar is pivotally attached at its lower end 55 to a cross member 51 joining the said bars 40-4! so that the aforesaid oscillation of the rock shaft will raise and lower the forward ends of the bars. A series of openings 54 for the bolts 53 permit convenient coarse adjustment and in order to permit the adjustment of the arm 52 in transverse directions to correspond to row adjustments of the units the rock shaft 41 has a series of openings 58 into any one of which a pin 59 carried by the arm 52 may be positioned. As shown in Fig. 3 the arm 52 is carried by one-half 60 of a clamp 5| positioned around the rock shaft 41 and by releasing this clamp the pin 59 may obviously be readily adjusted into any one of the openings 58.

As here shown the machine is arranged for operation from the tractor power take-off and it is accordingly provided with a universally mounted shaft section 62 connected to the forward end of a drive shaft 63 which extends into and drives a gear box 64. Extending laterally out of the gear box 64 is a pair of drive shafts 65 and both the gear box and bearings 66 for the shaft 65 are carried upon the upper rear cross member 32 as clearly shown. Sprocket chain 61 connects the shaft 65 to the aforesaid countershafts 46 so that they are driven from the power take-off of the tractor, but it is to be understood,

, of course, that I may provide the machine with its own integral power plant, in which case these driving arrangements will be varied somewhat.

One of the harvesting units, per se, associated with the sub-frame assemblies just described will now be set out in detail and it comprises as its primary operating means a pair of rotary lifting elements in the form of forwardly tapered cones 68 which are mounted at the forward ends of cone drive shafts 65. Adjacent the cones these shafts 69 are journaled through bearings 60 (shown best in Fig. 5) positioned inside the lower ends of V-shaped hanger brackets ll welded to and depending in spaced relation from the side The bearings m are supported in such position by a transversely extending shaft 12 journaled at its ends through the bracket II. From these bearings the cone drive shafts 69 angle upwardly and rearwardly and are journaled at their rear ends in gear boxes or drive units 13, the sides of which are attached to hanger arms 14 extending upwardly and secured to the rear ends of the side bars 4ll4l as indicated at 15 in Fig. 5. A drive shaft 16 is journaled into the gear box or drive unit 13 and it is connected by a sprocket chain 11 to the countershaft 16 to be driven thereby. Within the unit 13 the shaft 16 is connected to the cone drive shaft 69 by any suitable drive gear mechanism (such as that shown in the Addleman Patent No. 1,211,031 of January 2nd, 1917), and in such manner as to rotate the shaft 69 in opposite directions. The cones 68 are thus so rotated that they turn in upward directions at their facing sides and there are adapted to run along opposite sides of the beet row and engage and lift the beets from the ground as is well known in the art. To facilitate this operation, the cones are also spirally ribbed as designated at 18. Furrows are opened along the sides of the beet row in advance of the cones 68 by means of plow I9 attached to the lower ends of inverted U-shaped beams 89 the horizontal bight portions BI of which are journaled in bearings 82 depending from said bars 40--4I. At their upper ends the shank arms 80 are provided with rigidly and upwardly extending levers 83 and above the level of the side bars '404I the upper ends of the levers are connected by links 84 to shear pins 85 in brackets 86 on the side bars. This assembly normally prevents forward and rearward displacement of the plows I9 but should they encounter an obstacle in their path the shear pins 95 may shear off and permit the plows to swing upwardly, and prevent damage. As will be noted in Fig. 7 the plows I9 have forwardly and downwardly extending points 8'! extending wellbelow the forward ends of the cones '68 and these points serve to loosen the as comprising a conveyor chain 9| having conventional conveyor lugs 92. The chain 9I operates over a sprocket 93 at its forward end which is journaled upon the aforesaid shaft I2 thus locating it centrally with respect to the space between the cones and immediately to the rear thereof. The conveyor chain 9| runs over and is driven by a sprocket 94 (Fig. 5) upon the countershaft 46 and the direction of rotation of thi shaft is such that the upper flight of the chain moves in a rearward and upward direction to convey the lifted beets upwardly over the shaft and to the rear of the machine.

The beets from each of the harvesting units are delivered by the respective conveyors 9| into a hopper 95 and thence into the receiving scoop 96 of an elevator 91 by which they are delivered into a truck or wagon running alongside the machine. The precise details of this elevator and hopper arrangement are not, of course, important to my present invention but it will be noted that the elevator is swivelled at 98 upon a bracket 99 carried by the rear bar 28 and that a yoke assembly I attached to the upper cross bar 32 provides a support for a chain IOI by which the upper end of the elevator is supported. A rearwardly extending shaft I02 is connectedto the gear box 64 in order to operate the elevator and it will be noted that stand brackets m3 and I04 are provided upon the cross members I8 and 32 and connected by tie rods I05 to stiffen the machine longitudinally. The forward stand bracket I03 also provide a support for a bearing I06 for the forward end of the shaft 63. The hopper 95 is supported from a two part frame I0I secured at its ends to the outer side portion of the rear frame members 26 and 21 and the overlapping rear ends of the frame are connected by a clamp I08 so that adjustments may be made to correspond to the row crop adjustments of the harvesting unitsas previously described.

pivotally supports the arms II2 for forward and rearward movements at their lower ends. A drive pulley I I6 is mounted at the inner end of the shaft H5, as seen in Fig. 6, and a belt'I I'I runs from this pulley-rearwardly over a pulley I I8 upon the inner end of the countershaft 46. Another pulley H9 is mounted upon the shaft I I5 and is connected by a belt I20 to a pulley I2I upon the inner end of th shaft III to rotate the hub assembly I I 0. This hub assembly, and the reel as a whole, must for proper operation rotate rearwardly at its underside, or clockwise as viewed in Fig. '7, and in order to provide this direction of rotation at the shaft III the belt II! is twisted as shown in Fig. 1.

The hub assembly I l 0'actua1ly comprises, as in Figs. 4 and 6, three separate hubs secured to the shaft III in transversely spaced relation and to each of these hubs there are secured three beet engaging elements or arms designated generally at I22. These arms are of flexible construction and are made up of several plies of flexible strap material, with the plies varying in length so that the elements diminish in effective thickness toward their outer ends. The inner ends of these elements I 22 are secured, as by means of bolts or rivets I23, to the hubs I I0 so that in their'normal position the elements extend not radially but tangentially with respect to a circle centered about the axis upon which the reel rotates. Attention is called to the fact that, as shown in Fig. 7 particularly, the arms or beet engaging elements I22 of the outer two rows operate and are positioned in advance of the corresponding elements of the center row, this being readily effected by adjustment of the sections of the hub IIO angularly with respect to each other, upon their shaft III.

In operation this reel member I09 is rotated at a speed such that the flexible ends of the arms or elements I22 will strike the beets as they are lifted from the ground by the cones and will tip the beets rearwardly, driving them over onto the delivery conveyor 9|, with a slapping action. Not only does this slapping action of the arms or elements I22 assist in delivery of the beets to the conveyor 9| but it also has the very desirable function of knocking off any'dirt which may be clinging to the beets, and removing any leaves which may have been left on the beets by the topping operation which usually precedes the harvesting. Inasmuch as the center row of arms I22 lags behind the two outer rows thereof, the arms at the sides of the reel will contact the beets first and counteract any tendency of the beets to fall off to either side, and in practice it is found that this arrangement of the arms very effectively centers and delivers the beets directly onto the conveyor-9|. The centerarms I22 in particular will strike what has been the forward sides of the beets in the ground and inasmuch as the forward travel of the cones 68 has a tendency to drag the beets both forwardly and upwardly in lifting them it is to this forward side of the beet that the dirt is most likely to cling. The slapping action of the center arms I22 is thus best calculated to remove this dirt, to the end that the beets as delivered from the machine will be as clean as possible with mechanical harvesting.

The bolts II4 may be placed in any one of a series of openings I24 in the bracket I I3 in order to adjust the reel member I09 upwardly and downwardly. It is also desirable to provide forward and rearward adjustment of each reel member and for this purpose I mount a hand lever I25 upon the shaft H which supports the reel, and provide a quadrant upon the upper end of the bracket H3. The usual latch is provided on the hand lever I for locking it in any angular position upon the quadrant I26 and such adjustment of the lever will obviously swing the arms I I2 forwardly and rearwardly to correspondingly position the reel.

In the operation of a two-row harvester of this type, it is imperative that some means be provided to prevent the accumulation of trash and dirt ahead of the harvester units. In accordance with my invention, I provide an endless chain I21 which is supported upon a forward sprocket I28 and rear sprocket I29 to run forwardly and rearwardly at the center of the machine. The forward end of the chain I 21 is supported in hanger arms I30 depending from the rear frame member 28 while the rear end is supported upon a drive shaft I3I which itself is mounted in bearing brackets I32 upon one of the drive units 13 for the cones. A gear I33 upon the shaft I32 meshes with a gear I34 on the drive shaft I8 of the same drive unit and the chain I2! is thus power operated so that its lower flight runs in a rearward direction as indicated in Fig. 1. Lugs I35 are provided upon the chain I21 and it is driven-at such speed that it will run in a rearward direction at about the ground speed of the machine and thus walk over and hold down trash be' tween the rows. This is found to completely overcome any tendency for trashy material to progressively accumulate ahead of the harvesting units and interfere with their normal operation.

In Fig. 8 I show a modification of the lifting elements for my machine but employing the same cones 68 and driveshaft 69. In this case, however, the axes of the cones diverge in a forward direction so that their points I36 are spaced relatively Wide apart making it easier for the operator of the machine to properly follow the beet rows and be sure that all of the beets enter between the cones. It may be pointed out, at this point, that the same effect cannot be practicably obtained by using cones of larger diameter since the larger cones pick up more dirt along the beets. This is a proven fact and cones of five or six inches in diameter are about as large as can be successfully employed. By arranging the cones on divergent axes, I am enabled, however, to secure a noticeable widening of the distances between their points I36 without the necessity for increasing their diameter beyond that found best suited for the work. As shown. the rear ends of the cone driveshaft 69 as ex tending into a drive unit housing I31 through self-aligning bearings I38 and connected inwardly of the housing I31 by gears I39. One shaft 69 may emerge through an opening I in the rear of the housing I31 for drive through a sprocket or pulley indicated at MI. This arrangement is, of course, shown for example only and to set out one method in which cones arranged upon the diverging axes may be driven.

It is understood that suitable modifications may be made in the structure as disclosed, provided such modifications come within the spirit and scope of the appended claims. Having now, therefore, fully illustrated and described my invention, what I claim to be new and desire to protect by Letters Patent is: I

1. In an apparatus for harvesting beets from the row, the combination with a frame, a pair of spaced beet lifts supported on the frame for travel along opposite sides of the row and operative to lift the beets from the ground, and means rearwardly of the lifter to receive the beets, of a rotary reel member operatively supported on the frame and rotatable rearwardly at its underside between and over the lifters, power means for rotating the reel member, and the said reel member including a hub and a plurality of arms secured at inner ends thereto, the said arms each being made of a plurality of plies of narrow flexible strip material and diminishing in thickness outwardly.

2. In an apparatus for harvesting beets from the row, the combination with a frame, a pair of spaced beet lifters supported on the frame for travel along opposite sides of the row and operative to lift the beets from the ground, and means rearwardly of the lifter to receive the beets, of a rotary reel member operatively supported on the frame and rotatable rearwardly at its underside between and over the lifters, power means for rotating the reel member, the reel member including a rotary hub and plurality of arms secured at inner ends thereto and extending outwardly therefrom, the said arms each comprising a plurality of plies of graduated lengths and of flexible strap material.

3. In an apparatus for harvesting beets from the row, the combination with a frame, a pair of spaced beet lifters supported on the frame for travel along opposite sides of the row and operative to lift the beets from the ground, and means rearwardly of the lifter to receive the beets, of a rotary reel member and drive mechanism for rotating the member rearwardly at its underside over the lifters to engage and slap the beets over onto said receiving means, a support on the frame for the reel member, and means for manually adjusting the support to move the reel member forwardly and rearwardly with respect to the lifters.

JOHN A. DIETHELM.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 919,342 Gettelmann Apr. 27, 1909 1,211,030 Addleman Jan. 2, 1917 1,273,757 Fanger July 23, 1918 1,806,974 Irvine May 26, 1931 1,994,818 Hargens Mar. 19, 1935 2,452,418 Zuckerman Oct. 26, 1948 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 39,082 Austria Oct. 11, 1909 519,184 Great Britain Mar. 19, 1940 

